Monday, August 17, 2009

Using doughnuts as a bavarian base

I always used the classic method to make a bavarian cream without even posing any questions about it. It worked and that is all I needed to know. But it turns out that you can mix it up a bit. Typically a bavarian cream contains an anglaise or fruit puree base, an almost equal amount of heavy cream and gelatin as a stabilizer. Proportions vary according to the chef. But what I realized could be changed was the flavor base (anglaise or fruit puree). In other words, if you can have a flavor component with the consistency of a fruit puree or anglaise, you can make a bavarian. In this case made a puree, although it certainly is not fruit; I used doughnuts instead. Now, in order to get that unmistakable doughnut flavor, I couldn't use the doughnuts we fry at work since they are brioche doughnuts and don't taste like store bought doughnuts. So I used store bough doughnuts and it worked very well, resulting in a very smooth bavarian with a very defined flavor. The bavarian is sprayed with white chocolate velvet and it sits over pulverized espresso chocolate ("chocolate" that we made using coffee beans instead of cocoa beans. Coffee and doughnuts.

I have tried with method with other purees such as baguette and rye and in both case the results were positive. It opens up many flavor opportunities in regards to desserts and in particular cakes.

2 comments:

If you're willing, I'd love a bit more information on your preparation technique--just blending the bread product in a food processor, or mixing with something else? This is an interesting idea, I look forward to hearing more.

Of course. You have to puree about two times the amount of doughnuts you have with heavy cream (so 2 parts heavy cream to 1 part doughnuts); if it still feels too thick after pureeing it thoroughly in your blender, you can add some milk and continue to blend till if feels like an anglaise. I typically add some sugar to this since the sweetness fades a little as you add the cream an milk. Then you would add your gelatin to this (bloom, then melt) and then fold in your whipped cream and portion immediately.